Dinner Time
by Agent Texas
Summary: When dinner time hits at Wammy's House, Mello's late arrival brings with it an unpleasant consequence that Matt later pays for.


**Dinner Time**

Sure, there was a lot of things Mello hated, like Near, being number two and the other kids at Wammy's House, but _dinner_ time at the orphanage was a _completely _different story. It wasn't so bad: the food was warm and it wasn't like mush or anything too awful at least, but it wasn't like a dinner for the president or anything. Actually, it was just enough that the kids didn't complain too much, which was what L had stressed the most about caring for his "possibilities". And more than half the time, Mello didn't even bother complaining about it to anyone else, but today he was almost there because the only open spot was next to _Near._

He could have made a spat about it, but he didn't want to seem like a little kid. No, if _anybody_ was going to somehow be made a fool out this, it was going to be the white haired twat sitting there ever-so-innocently twirling a strand of hair around his index finger.

Mello frowned but took the seat next to him, doing his best to ignore him and focus on the food placed out for them. It smelled nice at least, if nothing else. "Hello, Mello."_ Just ignore him---- he won't talk unless I talk to him._

Near looked over at his dinner companion with a blank gaze. He was no idiot, in fact, he was the number one successor of L, and it wasn't too hard for him to figure out why the blond boy hated him. Most of the time he choose to just ignore him, but he was sitting next to him now, so he couldn't help being a little conversational----even if he wasn't much of a talker. Maybe if he tried hard enough he could smooth things over a little---though that was improbable, he figured he'd try anyway. "I'm surprised you didn't just-" how could he keep quiet when the white haired freak was talking to him?

"Shut up." He loaded his plate with some food that's scent floated and steamed.

Near gave him no sign of being bothered as he began to eat, wishing he was eating chocolate rather than this it was he was eating. Internally he tried to focus on that, but he was too angry and annoyed to.

"You know, you don't have to hate me, Mello, it's not my fault-" he cut him off sharply. If there hadn't been so much noise around the room, everyone would have been staring at him, considering that it sounded a lot like a hiss formed into almost incoherent words.

"That you're smarter than me even though I try harder than you? Is _that_ what you were going to say?" Near gave him no outward signs to being bothered or even affected except for pulling hard on his hair. Did he _ever_ show emotions?

"No, but I'll take that as a compliment." A _compliment?_ Was he trying to make him angrier, or was that just a mistake? Either way, he was filling with rage with each passing moment like a balloon being filled with air. Question was, how much "air" could Near fill into him before he exploded? That was what he was testing right now.

"It wasn't a compliment," he mumbled into his plate as he chewed much longer than was necessary to mash up his food and with much more force than necessary. If it were possible, he probably would have gritted his teeth while he ate.

"Yes, but I would prefer to take it that way," Near said as he released the hair he'd been twirling and looked as it curled towards his head as best he could. There was just something intoxicating to him about wrapping the stray strands around his finger and then looking at his handy work. "I heard L is going to be answering questions tomorrow." Normally it was just some conversation about what was going on around them and didn't cause a quarrel, but Mello was too emotional and wasn't anywhere near in the mood to deal with small talk.

Unable to keep quiet any longer, he turned to Near and hissed at him. Had it made more sense to Near, he might not have raised an eyebrow at the noise.

"Why can't you just leave me alone? Isn't it obvious I don't want to be here? Is that not enough torture for me?" Near smirked. Mello_ hated_ it when he smirked, because that meant he had something slick up his sleeve, which usually spelled bad news for the adversary in the spat or conversation. And Near didn't fail to uphold his character now.

"I'm sorry to burst your secluded bubble, Mello, but I don't hate you. Actually, I find your hatred of me quite funny and childish." Childish? He was calling_ Mello _childish? What gave him the right to say _that_? All he ever did was sit or lie around on the floor building puzzles or playing with damn toys. At least Mello did something constructive in a day's time---at least constructive from his point of view----even if that did consist of throwing a ball or tripping a couple of kids to get what he wanted. _At least _I'm_ getting somewhere. _

And don't even get Mello started on the bubble remark. At least _he_ left the confines of the orphanage to play outside every so often. Maybe if Near got out more, he wouldn't blend in with the snow so well.

"_Me?_ Childish? You're the one who plays with your toys all day!" His voice began to rise as he lost his temper little by little.

Near could practically feel his anger radiating off him by now, and he was enjoying it in a way, though he didn't want to cause too much commotion.

"Yes, that's true I suppose, but you're the one who can't even have a simple conversation with me over dinner." Mello fumed now, giving up on his food and simply grinding his teeth at the stupid, stupid albino kid. Why couldn't he just eat in his room or something? He needed to study anyway.

Right now he hated the orphanage, Roger, Near and everyone else around him, especially the person of which had subjected him to this dinner time activity tonight, whether it had been intentional or not.

Matt was going to get an ass beating after this.

Mello glowered over at the brown haired boy that was eating nonchalantly.

"You know what? I should just leave----you're obviously not going to shut up. And here I thought you'd be a good boy and be quiet for once." That was hardly a threat to Near, so he just studied Mello silently while twirling his hair.

He'd long ago finished eating, but he was staying for the sole purpose of hearing Mello make a spat out of his friendly conversation. He swore that the blond boy was the only one who could twist everything he said into an insult or just plan hate every word he said----and all because he couldn't succeed passed him, hardly sounded friendly.

Mello gave him a confused look back in exchange of the studying.

What could he possibly want to study?

"Stop looking at me like that. I'm leaving." Near gave him a smile as he got up and headed for his room through the open doorway. Roger glanced up in confusion before noticing it was Mello in his loose sweats and overly large black shirt. It came to no surprise to him that he was practically storming out of the room and the only empty seat was next to a strangely smirking Near.

"Yes, you may leave," he said with his usual tone of voice, but got to his feet and trailed after his stray companion. It wasn't like him to follow and Roger worried what Mello might do in reaction, but decided Near probably knew what could happen when he made the move. It wasn't as if Mello would do anything too drastic anyway, just throw things or hit him at the most. Why he was pushing his second best student was beyond him though.

"Mello, hold on a moment." He didn't stop, just scowled deeper upon hearing the boy's voice behind him.

The hell did Near think he was doing following him like a lost dog? Mello wasn't a pound employee or something, what did he want him to do? Kick him? He would gladly do that, but there had to be something he really wanted.

He didn't say a word to him, just kept marching to his room. "Why don't you ask him?" They both stopped exactly on queue.

Mello considered what he'd just said before turning to him as he stood, still twirling his hair and a small smirk on his face.

"Ask _him_? Ask _him_ what?" Mello was too predictable. Maybe that would pass with age, but he sure wasn't hard to figure out now.

"Why he likes me more. If it bothers you so much, why not clear things up a bit?" Mello sneered and started walking again. That would make him like the rest of those losers, he would never do that. Not if his life depended on it. No, instead, he'd just focus on trying to figure out _exactly_ what it was that L liked about Near. It could be that he was more like him or maybe it was just his grades. He might not ever know if he didn't ever get his grades at least as good as Near's. Which seemed impossible at this point, but Mello didn't like quitting, so there would always be a chance.

When he reached his shared room, he turned around and faced Near who was still waiting for a response to his outrageous question. "No, Near, now leave." He turned around and opened the door, going inside and releasing the door to close it from behind. It clicked shut a moment later and he sat down on his bed that was stacked high with books ranging from the history of World War II to Biblical times and the 21rst century.

"I could tutor you." He half screamed in surprise and recoiled back as Near peeked from behind the huge stack, having had taken his opportunity to sneak in when Mello went to close the door.

It wasn't that he actually thought Mello would want his help, but he had other questions for him.

"Near! Get out of here you little freak!" Mello tossed a baseball at him and he ducked behind the books, which only swayed from Mello's shifting.

"Why won't you just answer a simple question?" He peeked again, just hardly managing to dodge a basketball this time---though it did hit the pile of books that then went to crumble down. From the angle they'd been hit, they went and fell all over Mello as opposed to Near, who was conveniently sitting with his legs to his chest without so much as a book on him. They hadn't really hurt to fall on him in the sense that he was going to scream or anything, but they had stung pretty badly.

"Why you-! You knocked down my books!" he accused, pushing the books off him and onto the ground with thumps---Near glanced down at the books.

"Actually, Mello, _you_ knocked down your _own_ books."

"Why you twat!" Mello lunged at him and Near hopped down and out of the way, leaving Mello sprawled out on his bed.

Well this hadn't gone well, but then again, Near couldn't expect much from such an immature person as Mello. He hadn't thought that it would get like this so quickly though, so maybe it was time to leave.

"Mello, please get a hold of your emotions, they're clouding your judgment." He turned to leave to get hit with the only thing Mello could grab: his pillow. It was hard enough to leave Near swaying and since his reflex was to grab something to steady himself, almost rip out the strand of his hair he was twirling. "Ouch…" he mumbled hardly audibly.

"Get out of here before I can get up and you might just live!" Mello rolled on off his bed, catching himself as Near just went to leave without a rush. He got the door open and was in the hall before Mello grabbed him by his shirt and reeled his arm back, tightening his hand to a fist.

It would feel so good to punch that kid.

Near wasn't afraid, sure it might hurt, but fighting back or whining was what Mello wanted.

"Mello? What are you doing?" Matt asked just in time to distract him. He released Near and Near dusted off before walking away.

"Matt, you distracted me!" he hissed.

"Oh, um…okay? Why were you trying to beat up Near? You know, other than the obvious reasons?" he paused as if to gather the information, though there really wasn't much. Near hadn't done anything to really deserve what he'd done except call him childish and be himself.

"Because he called me childish."

"I hardly find that to be a reason to beat someone up, Mello." He gritted his teeth and lunged at Matt this time. He'd taken his seat anyway and subjected him to this.

He didn't try to punch him, just grab him by his long, stupid brown hair. It didn't fail either and he got a satisfying whine out of him."Mello! Let go of my hair!" He scratched at his hand and rooted his feet to the ground.

"No way! This is your fault entirely!"

"My fault, how?!"

"You took my seat and I was forced to sit next to that-that…" he seemed to be searching for the right word. "THING." Matt frowned but tried to break free by kicking at Mello's legs, which didn't do much.

"Why didn't you tell me to move then?"

"Because, Matt, then he would have won and he would have known it."

"I'm sorry, jeez. Can you just let go of my hair?" he growled but did so and Matt stood up straight.

For some reason that Matt didn't understand, having dinner just really pissed Mello off, always had, no matter where he was sitting, no matter who was next to him and no matter what they were having. "You really don't like dinner time, do you?" He glanced at Matt.

"No." He sighed.

"Why not just eat the chocolate I buy you then? Isn't that better than this?"

"Of course it is, but if I just stopped showing up for dinner, Roger would think I was trying to starve myself to death." What he was saying made sense in most senses, but he did have one question.

"Why would he just think that immediately?"

"Because of how skinny I am. He already thinks I'm skin and bones, if I don't at least show up, he'll think I'm already dead." Matt chuckled, understanding but finding it amusing.

"Aw, poor Mello, everybody thinks he's a girl." As soon as he said it, he realized that was the wrong thing to say and slapped his hand over his mouth.

Well crap, he was probably going to get beat up now, or at least chased around. But the expression on his face was_ priceless._ His eyes were slits, his eyebrows pulled together and his hands in fists. It might have looked scary if he hadn't been restraining his lips from twisting into a smile of amusement so obviously.

"Matt…" He answered warily.

"Yeah?"

"You've got three seconds to start running, unless you want me to beat you to death with my "girly" fists." He paused, knowing he was serious well all the same not so much. He was going to try and beat him up, but he was being sarcastic about the "girly" fists.

He took off and Mello chased after him.

Near watched from his spot on the ground with his puzzle half finished.

Dinner time always ended up with Matt being chased around by Mello, the reasons either being something like this or something else unnecessary. It was certainly pointless, but it was damn funny for any spectators. And those few spectators always contained Near.

Well this was my first try at a Death Note fan fiction. It was really fun to write, I might make more if I get good reviews on this one. Tried to keep them all in character, think I did pretty good, could've done better, but this was the best I could shell out at three AM when I'm supposed to be sleeping or working on my RvB stories instead. Anyway, back to writing my cross-over! Hope you all liked my random fan fiction filled with Mello hatred(LOL, I love Mello).


End file.
